Is there a God? What do YOU think???

[IrishEyes]

After being corrected, rather harshly, about not having any scientific data to support my claim that most people in this forum do not believe in God, I decided that I should just do some 'scientific research'.

 

Now, I'm reaching waaaaaaaaaaaaay back, but I think the Scientific Method goes something like "i c stars", right?

 

I - Identify the problem/question.

C - Collect information.

S - State your hypothesis.

T - Test your hypothesis.

A - Accept or reject your hypothesis

R - Record/report your results.

S - State your conclusion.

 

Therefore, I am 'identifying the problem' as not knowing whether this forum's members are predominantly non-believers in God. the 'Collecting information' phase has really been done the past few months, though it was rather unofficial. I'm 'Stating (again) as my hypothesis' that most of the members of this forum are not believers in God. Now I have to 'test' that, hence the poll.

 

If you'd all be so kind as to give your honest answer, I'd really appreciate it.

 

Thanks so much, and I'll continue to share the results as we go along.

[Freethinker]

I'd love to answer it, but you do not give me one to choose from.

 

I do not have a god belief.

 

That is very different from the 2nd closest

 

A. I do not believe in any type of God.

 

Though this one could be modified to provide an even greater level of philosophical identification

 

A. I do not believe in anything.

[Tormod]

Originally posted by: Freethinker

A. I do not believe in anything.

 

Ooooh. That, I believe, is impossible.

[Freethinker]

OK, do I repost it or try to find my extensive explanation that was posted before? I think you may have been on one of your continual vacations! lol

 

Basically, "Belief" is something that is used when you have no VALID reason to accept something. Do you BELIEVE in a refrigerator? No, you have no need to BELIEVE in one, you can ACCEPT that they exist because of the massive number of them that do exist.

 

e.g. Gravity. I do not need to "believe" in gravity. I can "accept as a matter of convenience" that it exists. If I did not accept it, I would be afraid to lift my foot as I might "beleive" that I could not put it down and make it stick again. I would just drift off the planet. And I do not need to "believe" that gravity is a curvature of space time. For my daily life it is irrelevant as to HOW it works. However it fits the details of what is happening around me better than any other explanation I have heard. Thus I do not BELIEVE in the Theory of Gravity, I "accept it" as a matter of convenience and knowledge.

[Tormod]

I'll look for your explanation. Must be good. If you ask me, to accept is to believe. "Belief" does not equal "faith". But I take it on good faith that we are of the same belief here.

 

Okay, bedtime for me.

[Tormod]

"E. I believe in the God represented in the Bible."

 

Irish, this is interesting. Is it possible to state BRIEFLY what this means? I always find that the God of the Bible is many different things and not one entity (although he is obiviously supposed to be only one, because of the first commandment).

 

I am NOT being sarcastic, pardon me if I am phrasing this wrong or anything.

[FrankM]

Your vacation must have over stimulated your mental neurons, or you have too much web bandwidth, or

too much time on your hands, to induce you to explore this subject.

 

The current picture of the month at this site is noteworthy.

 

http://www.evcforum.net/

[Uncle Martin]

Great link frank, thanks for posting it. Why no vote in the poll?

 

Irish, I know that grammar and spelling are some of your (many?) pet peaves, so I thought you may like to know that you've mispelled "Christains". Heh-Heh, just one of lifes little ironies.

[IrishEyes]

Actually, that was kinda intentional, Unc. It was a really pathetic attempt at humor at 2am. I'm guessing it failed, huh?

And FreeT, I'll try to add an option, just for you!

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: FrankM

The current picture of the month at this site is noteworthy.

 

http://www.evcforum.net/

 

As the cartoon so aptly demonstrates, there is no LEGITMATE SCIENTIFIC debate between Evolution and Creationism. It's really very basic.

 

Evolution represents Science at it's most detailed and formal structure

 

Creationism is NOT Science.

 

One of the requirements for something to be "Science" is that it offers a method of accurate predictions. Evolution allows Medical Science to PREDICT what results we will get out of experiments. e.g. if an anti-body works for certain animals it will work for humans because of evolutionary commonality.

 

While Creationism merely states "god happens". For medical science this would translate into, test on new medications show that should god arbitrarily decide in your favor, this medicine might help you. Or maybe not....

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: IrishEyes

And FreeT, I'll try to add an option, just for you!

 

Well, thanks for trying anyway. But that is way to tongue in cheek!

 

I gave the best option in my first post.

 

You should change the wording of the first option to:

 

"I do not have a god belief. "

 

This negates the "what is a belief" issue as it asserts that the person does not have one and does not require a "positive non-existence assertion".

 

However there may be those that wish to state that there is no god and that option is not there either. That should be stated as

 

There is no god.

 

The crux seems to be your personal addiction to "belief". What I call the "misery loves company" approach. That just because you are personally forced to rely on "beliefs" rather than FACTS, you want to pretend that everyone has the same addiction/ requirement. Thus you do not offer a single option which does not specific a requirement for a "belief".

 

A. There is no god(s)

B. I do not have any god(s) beliefs.

C. I believe that every person is God.

D. I believe that God is part of everything and everything is part of God.

E. I believe in the God represented in the OT.

F. I believe in the God represented in the NT.

G. I believe in the God represented in the Koran

H. I believe in a personal God or Goddess, but not the same one that written revelation based religions claim.

[Uncle Martin]

You missed one FT, since I've been seen as slightly arrogant of late,.. I propose another option.

 

I am God.

[Freethinker]

Originally posted by: Uncle Martin

You missed one FT, since I've been seen as slightly arrogant of late,.. I propose another option.

 

I am God.

You da man!

 

I mean that, da MAN! lol

[geko]

On the subject of acceptance and belief (and to use this/a discussion group as an idea to lead with), i think (i think... lol) we can argue for the existence of something such as belief.

 

E.g.

 

A thread is made (is there a god? what do you believe?). An argument of the ambiguity of the question is a response.

 

The arguer believes that their response is (say) valid.

 

To assert that it's accepted that the response is valid is inaccurate because no question about the arguers response (e.g. "do you think this is true/you are right?"), has yet been proposed.

 

 

EDIT: As and after-though, I do think that belief can be circumvented by being carful with the vocabulary - likewise with trying to ascertain that it does in fact exist.

[geko]

Do i believe in a god? No.

 

Do i accept interference of a god as a valid explanation for any phenomena? No.

 

Will i ever? Doubtful. Why? Because i believe that needing its interaction for phenomena to happen is superfluous

[IrishEyes]

FreeT,

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful replies, examples and suggestions. I appreciate how much time and thought you put into showing me exactly how my poll is flawed. I really appreciate your insight. However, I am leaving it as is, with only the one special addition for you.

Yes, it is tongue-in-cheek, but I was sure you would get a chuckle from it.

From the looks of it, there are only 5 people registered at this site that are willing to cast a vote. And the poll proves that YOU are correct, and i was wrong - there are NOT a lot more people that do not believe in God at this site. There are just as many Christians as people that claim to not believe in any God, and one "other". Not anything close to what I assumed, but thanks for helping me 'prove' (es evidenced by poll respondants) that this SCIENCE SITE is overflowing with GOD-BELIEVERS! So stop your grumbling aobut it being a SCIENCE SITE - we know what it is and we're bringing God here anyway!! ;>P

God Bless You All!!

 

*rotflmao*

[IrishEyes]

Oh, and as much as I loved Unc's "I AM GOD", I thought geko's reponses were just awesome!! Thanks so much for being so honest geko. It was a very insightful few moments in your brain, but i enjoyed it. Thanks so much for sharing!!!